20051013

I'm late to talk about this subject, but I didn't think it terribly important. It's really just another episode in the monthly bundle of insanity known as Jack Thompson. The short of it is he's offered any game developer $10000 to their charity of choice if they'll make a game of his design specifications. Basically, a game where the story blames all sorts of violence on games.

Gamers everywhere reacted, some in laughs, most in ridicule.

Apparently one of the Penny-Arcade guys sent Jack Thompson an e-mail telling him about how Penny-Arcade's Childsplay charity had raised half a million dollars in toys and cash which went to children in hospitals everywhere. Apparently he forgot his phone number appeared in his signiture, because Jack called him back and yelled at him a bunch, telling him never to e-mail him again.

Honestly I've passed the point of amusement.

I could sit here and bash Jack all day, I could cite him as reason to wave off his cause, and I could end satisfied that I was right, and he was stupid.

Stupid he may be, attention hogging and extremist as well. However, more than anything he is a travesty. There is nothing worse, I think, for the gaming industry than to offhandedly dismiss the potential damage violence in the media can do to our children. Unfortunately, Jack Thompson provides gamers like myself with the easy opportunity to do so. When the primary spokesperson for a cause continually makes a fool of himself in front of the lights and cameras of the world, it's easy to forget how important what they're misrepresenting may be.

Something should be done to address the problem, but those of us who know games the best do nothing. We have unfortunately taken the position of calling parents who buy M-Rated games for their children idiots, as well as the people like Jack Thompson who try to react to a problem they don't fully understand. Instead, since we hold the keys of knowledge in this area, we could very easily be solving the issue once and for all.

As much as Jack Thompson is a travesty, so are we the gaming populace for not proving him a moron by solving the problem he champions in spite of him.

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What the...?

Within this link is retained all that is important, unimportant, and in limbo. At least as each pertains to the passages contained herein.

Who is this strange person?

You don't want to know. Trust me, you really don't. You may think you do, you may feel you do, you might even actually want to know. But really, you don't. There are a lot of reasons why you don't want to know. The first is I'm really quite boring. Trust me on that one, B-O-R-I-N-G. The second is I'm quite insane. Straight jacket insane. Not an interesting insane mind you, just that kind that makes you wake up in the middle of the night screaming something about how the Teletubbies invaded Cuba and set up a regime of Pants, Elephants and Used Cars. The last reason is that you don't want to know. I've probably already let on to too much. I might have to kill you. Speaking of which, where do you live?